If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Fire ants- please help!

Today I placed a gallon jug of water under two legs of my hive and put the other two inside a cement mixing tray. I filled everything with water to try and create a moat to stop the ants. Later today I looked and one of the gallon jugs was just touching the back leg and the **** things had made their way to the hive again, leaving a perfect trail.

Who can tell me what to do? I may have to exterminate this fresh cut-out because the first banana boat from Sout America doomed the colony.

Re: Fire ants- please help!

You already stated the problem, leg touching the side of the water container. Move the hives so the ants don't know where to come for food,Fix the container it so it doesn't touch the legs. Leave the ants alone, they'll eat SHB larvae.

Re: Fire ants- please help!

With Fire ants I track them back to the mound and use any fire ant killer there. It will be away from the bees and it works. A strong hive will help once you get to that point but first find that mound! Or mounds.

Re: Fire ants- please help!

Originally Posted by Blackwater Bees

You already stated the problem, leg touching the side of the water container. Move the hives so the ants don't know where to come for food,Fix the container it so it doesn't touch the legs. Leave the ants alone, they'll eat SHB larvae.

I tried moving the hive just 6 feet around a corner of the shed and 15 minutes later they were circling around where it was so I moved it back. I could cut the points off the legs and make it narrow enough to not touch the sides of the pan two legs are setting in, but I worried the vibration would drop the combs or stir up the bees too much. I guess it's a risk I will have to take.

Re: Fire ants- please help!

Appreciation to all who replied. Tomorrow those darn ants are getting a sprinkling of proven ant killer. I just hope they don't win before I get there. Maybe the rain we are sure to have tonight will wash away the problem, but I'm still taking some major poison over there.

Re: Fire ants- please help!

Sorry about the abbreviations. Yes, SHB-small hive beetles go down in the soil to mature. Part of IPM-integrated pest management I've seen is to leave the fireants alone if they aren't causing you a problem. They'll eat the SHB larvae. It's a win, if they arent' bothering your hives. Fireants don't bother my hives, its the larger ants that do. Big red ones the size of the black carpenter ant. They don't seem to pick up the amdro like the fireants do. Yes, Orthene would work, but after losing some to sevin dust, I freak out about any kind of powder or dust around the hives. I use both amdro and orthene on mounds in the garden, with good success.

Re: Fire ants- please help!

I just MURDERED the little creeps with poison after I found a clutch the size of a quarter on a top bar. I made a circle all around the hive and I know this stuff works. Things are still looking pretty good inside. I'm waiting for this colony to build and progress more before I move the partition. Without seeing the queen, I feel strongly I know where she is staying at bar 3. I'm not doing a full inspection, but I plan to use the endoscope again today. Thanks everyone!

Re: Fire ants- please help!

Originally Posted by Blackwater Bees

... Leave the ants alone, they'll eat SHB larvae.

I stopped messing with fire ants after learning that they are after the shb larvae. I watch them carry out the larvae, and now I too leave them alone. It's the bull ants that I've lost weak hives to, not fire ants.

Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones. Prvb 16:24
March 2010; +/- 30 hives, TF